Stanford ALP Course Penetrates the Bamboo Ceiling

Course Penetrates
the Bamboo Ceiling

Highly skilled mid-level managers with Asian backgrounds are
playing increasingly vital roles at many U.S. corporations, particularly
in the Silicon Valley. Yet according to a recent study by the New
York–based Center for Work-Life Policy, Asian Americans hold less than
2% of executive roles at Fortune 500 companies. Nearly half of Asian
American women surveyed, and 63% of Asian American men, report feeling
stalled in their careers.

Retired executives Buck Gee and Wes Hom saw similar trends at
their own companies, Cisco and IBM. The so-called "bamboo ceiling"
concerned them so much, in fact, that they approached the Center for
Leadership Development and Research (CLDR) at the Stanford Graduate
School of Business. The result was a unique new course, aimed at
promising mid-career managers at U.S. companies, called the Advanced Leadership Program for Asian American Executives.